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Chapter 16

‘C

ursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant,

did I not extinguish the spark of existence which
you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not
yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage
and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage
and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their
shrieks and misery.
‘When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered
in the wood; and now, no longer restrained by the fear of
discovery, I gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings.
I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying
the objects that obstructed me and ranging through
the wood with a staglike swiftness. Oh! What a miserable
night I passed! The cold stars shone in mockery, and the
bare trees waved their branches above me; now and then
the sweet voice of a bird burst forth amidst the universal
stillness. All, save I, were at rest or in enjoyment; I, like the
arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and finding myself unsympathized
with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc
and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and
enjoyed the ruin.
‘But this was a luxury of sensation that could not endure;
I became fatigued with excess of bodily exertion and
sank on the damp grass in the sick impotence of despair.
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There was none among the myriads of men that existed who
would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards
my enemies? No; from that moment I declared everlasting
war against the species, and more than all, against him who
had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.
‘The sun rose; I heard the voices of men and knew that
it was impossible to return to my retreat during that day.
Accordingly I hid myself in some thick underwood, determining
to devote the ensuing hours to reflection on my
situation.
‘The pleasant sunshine and the pure air of day restored
me to some degree of tranquillity; and when I considered
what had passed at the cottage, I could not help believing
that I had been too hasty in my conclusions. I had certainly
acted imprudently. It was apparent that my conversation
had interested the father in my behalf, and I was a fool in
having exposed my person to the horror of his children. I
ought to have familiarized the old De Lacey to me, and by
degrees to have discovered myself to the rest of his family,
when they should have been prepared for my approach.
But I did not believe my errors to be irretrievable, and after
much consideration I resolved to return to the cottage,
seek the old man, and by my representations win him to
my party.
‘These thoughts calmed me, and in the afternoon I sank
into a profound sleep; but the fever of my blood did not allow
me to be visited by peaceful dreams. The horrible scene

of the preceding day was forever acting before my eyes; the
164 Frankenstein

females were flying and the enraged Felix tearing me from
his father’s feet. I awoke exhausted, and finding that it was
already night, I crept forth from my hiding-place, and went
in search of food.
‘When my hunger was appeased, I directed my steps towards
the well-known path that conducted to the cottage.
All there was at peace. I crept into my hovel and remained
in silent expectation of the accustomed hour when the family
arose. That hour passed, the sun mounted high in the
heavens, but the cottagers did not appear. I trembled violently,
apprehending some dreadful misfortune. The inside
of the cottage was dark, and I heard no motion; I cannot
describe the agony of this suspense.
‘Presently two countrymen passed by, but pausing near
the cottage, they entered into conversation, using violent
gesticulations; but I did not understand what they said, as
they spoke the language of the country, which differed from
that of my protectors. Soon after, however, Felix approached
with another man; I was surprised, as I knew that he had
not quitted the cottage that morning, and waited anxiously
to discover from his discourse the meaning of these unusual
appearances.
‘‘Do you consider,’ said his companion to him, ‘that you
will be obliged to pay three months’ rent and to lose the
produce of your garden? I do not wish to take any unfair
advantage, and I beg therefore that you will take some days
to consider of your determination.’
‘‘It is utterly useless,’ replied Felix; ‘we can never again
inhabit your cottage. The life of my father is in the greatest
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danger, owing to the dreadful circumstance that I have related.
My wife and my sister will never recover from their
horror. I entreat you not to reason with me any more. Take
possession of your tenement and let me fly from this place.’
‘Felix trembled violently as he said this. He and his companion
entered the cottage, in which they remained for a
few minutes, and then departed. I never saw any of the family
of De Lacey more.
‘I continued for the remainder of the day in my hovel in a
state of utter and stupid despair. My protectors had departed
and had broken the only link that held me to the world.
For the first time the feelings of revenge and hatred filled
my bosom, and I did not strive to control them, but allowing
myself to be borne away by the stream, I bent my mind
towards injury and death. When I thought of my friends, of
the mild voice of De Lacey, the gentle eyes of Agatha, and
the exquisite beauty of the Arabian, these thoughts vanished
and a gush of tears somewhat soothed me. But again
when I reflected that they had spurned and deserted me, anger
returned, a rage of anger, and unable to injure anything
human, I turned my fury towards inanimate objects. As
night advanced I placed a variety of combustibles around
the cottage, and after having destroyed every vestige of cultivation
in the garden, I waited with forced impatience until

the moon had sunk to commence my operations.
‘As the night advanced, a fierce wind arose from the
woods and quickly dispersed the clouds that had loitered
in the heavens; the blast tore along like a mighty avalanche
and produced a kind of insanity in my spirits that burst all
166 Frankenstein

bounds of reason and reflection. I lighted the dry branch
of a tree and danced with fury around the devoted cottage,
my eyes still fixed on the western horizon, the edge of which
the moon nearly touched. A part of its orb was at length hid,
and I waved my brand; it sank, and with a loud scream I
fired the straw, and heath, and bushes, which I had collected.
The wind fanned the fire, and the cottage was quickly
enveloped by the flames, which clung to it and licked it with
their forked and destroying tongues.
‘As soon as I was convinced that no assistance could save
any part of the habitation, I quitted the scene and sought for
refuge in the woods.
‘And now, with the world before me, whither should I
bend my steps? I resolved to fly far from the scene of my
misfortunes; but to me, hated and despised, every country
must be equally horrible. At length the thought of you
crossed my mind. I learned from your papers that you were
my father, my creator; and to whom could I apply with
more fitness than to him who had given me life? Among
the lessons that Felix had bestowed upon Safie, geography
had not been omitted; I had learned from these the relative
situations of the different countries of the earth. You had
mentioned Geneva as the name of your native town, and
towards this place I resolved to proceed.
‘But how was I to direct myself? I knew that I must travel
in a southwesterly direction to reach my destination, but
the sun was my only guide. I did not know the names of the
towns that I was to pass through, nor could I ask information
from a single human being; but I did not despair. From
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you only could I hope for succour, although towards you
I felt no sentiment but that of hatred. Unfeeling, heartless
creator! You had endowed me with perceptions and passions
and then cast me abroad an object for the scorn and
horror of mankind. But on you only had I any claim for pity
and redress, and from you I determined to seek that justice
which I vainly attempted to gain from any other being that
wore the human form.
‘My travels were long and the sufferings I endured intense.
It was late in autumn when I quitted the district where I had
so long resided. I travelled only at night, fearful of encountering
the visage of a human being. Nature decayed around
me, and the sun became heatless; rain and snow poured
around me; mighty rivers were frozen; the surface of the
earth was hard and chill, and bare, and I found no shelter.
Oh, earth! How often did I imprecate curses on the cause
of my being! The mildness of my nature had fled, and all
within me was turned to gall and bitterness. The nearer I approached
to your habitation, the more deeply did I feel the
spirit of revenge enkindled in my heart. Snow fell, and the

waters were hardened, but I rested not. A few incidents now
and then directed me, and I possessed a map of the country;
but I often wandered wide from my path. The agony of my
feelings allowed me no respite; no incident occurred from
which my rage and misery could not extract its food; but a
circumstance that happened when I arrived on the confines
of Switzerland, when the sun had recovered its warmth and
the earth again began to look green, confirmed in an especial
manner the bitterness and horror of my feelings.
168 Frankenstein

‘I generally rested during the day and travelled only when
I was secured by night from the view of man. One morning,
however, finding that my path lay through a deep wood, I
ventured to continue my journey after the sun had risen;
the day, which was one of the first of spring, cheered even
me by the loveliness of its sunshine and the balminess of
the air. I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had
long appeared dead, revive within me. Half surprised by
the novelty of these sensations, I allowed myself to be borne
away by them, and forgetting my solitude and deformity,
dared to be happy. Soft tears again bedewed my cheeks, and
I even raised my humid eyes with thankfulness towards the
blessed sun, which bestowed such joy upon me.
‘I continued to wind among the paths of the wood, until I
came to its boundary, which was skirted by a deep and rapid
river, into which many of the trees bent their branches, now
budding with the fresh spring. Here I paused, not exactly
knowing what path to pursue, when I heard the sound of
voices, that induced me to conceal myself under the shade
of a cypress. I was scarcely hid when a young girl came running
towards the spot where I was concealed, laughing, as
if she ran from someone in sport. She continued her course
along the precipitous sides of the river, when suddenly her
foot slipped, and she fell into the rapid stream. I rushed
from my hiding-place and with extreme labour, from the
force of the current, saved her and dragged her to shore.
She was senseless, and I endeavoured by every means in my
power to restore animation, when I was suddenly interrupted
by the approach of a rustic, who was probably the person
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from whom she had playfully fled. On seeing me, he darted
towards me, and tearing the girl from my arms, hastened
towards the deeper parts of the wood. I followed speedily, I
hardly knew why; but when the man saw me draw near, he
aimed a gun, which he carried, at my body and fired. I sank
to the ground, and my injurer, with increased swiftness, escaped
into the wood.
‘This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved
a human being from destruction, and as a recompense I
now writhed under the miserable pain of a wound which
shattered the flesh and bone. The feelings of kindness and
gentleness which I had entertained but a few moments
before gave place to hellish rage and gnashing of teeth. Inflamed
by pain, I vowed eternal hatred and vengeance to
all mankind. But the agony of my wound overcame me; my
pulses paused, and I fainted.

‘For some weeks I led a miserable life in the woods, endeavouring
to cure the wound which I had received. The
ball had entered my shoulder, and I knew not whether it
had remained there or passed through; at any rate I had no
means of extracting it. My sufferings were augmented also
by the oppressive sense of the injustice and ingratitude of
their infliction. My daily vows rose for revenge— a deep
and deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for
the outrages and anguish I had endured.
‘After some weeks my wound healed, and I continued my
journey. The labours I endured were no longer to be alleviated
by the bright sun or gentle breezes of spring; all joy was
but a mockery which insulted my desolate state and made
170 Frankenstein

me feel more painfully that I was not made for the enjoyment
of pleasure.
‘But my toils now drew near a close, and in two months
from this time I reached the environs of Geneva.
‘It was evening when I arrived, and I retired to a hidingplace
among the fields that surround it to meditate in what
manner I should apply to you. I was oppressed by fatigue
and hunger and far too unhappy to enjoy the gentle breezes
of evening or the prospect of the sun setting behind the stupendous
mountains of Jura.
‘At this time a slight sleep relieved me from the pain of
reflection, which was disturbed by the approach of a beautiful
child, who came running into the recess I had chosen,
with all the sportiveness of infancy. Suddenly, as I gazed
on him, an idea seized me that this little creature was unprejudiced
and had lived too short a time to have imbibed
a horror of deformity. If, therefore, I could seize him and
educate him as my companion and friend, I should not be
so desolate in this peopled earth.
‘Urged by this impulse, I seized on the boy as he passed
and drew him towards me. As soon as he beheld my form,
he placed his hands before his eyes and uttered a shrill
scream; I drew his hand forcibly from his face and said,
‘Child, what is the meaning of this? I do not intend to hurt
you; listen to me.’
‘He struggled violently. ‘Let me go,’ he cried; ‘monster!
Ugly wretch! You wish to eat me and tear me to pieces. You
are an ogre. Let me go, or I will tell my papa.’
‘‘Boy, you will never see your father again; you must
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come with me.’
‘‘Hideous monster! Let me go. My papa is a Syndic— he
is M. Frankenstein—he will punish you. You dare not keep
me.’
‘‘Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy—to him
towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be
my first victim.’
‘The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets
which carried despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to
silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet.
‘I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation
and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed,

‘I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable;
this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other
miseries shall torment and destroy him.’
‘As I fixed my eyes on the child, I saw something glittering
on his breast. I took it; it was a portrait of a most
lovely woman. In spite of my malignity, it softened and attracted
me. For a few moments I gazed with delight on her
dark eyes, fringed by deep lashes, and her lovely lips; but
presently my rage returned; I remembered that I was forever
deprived of the delights that such beautiful creatures
could bestow and that she whose resemblance I contemplated
would, in regarding me, have changed that air of divine
benignity to one expressive of disgust and affright.
‘Can you wonder that such thoughts transported me
with rage? I only wonder that at that moment, instead of
venting my sensations in exclamations and agony, I did not
rush among mankind and perish in the attempt to destroy
172 Frankenstein

them.
‘While l was overcome by these feelings, I left the spot
where I had committed the murder, and seeking a more secluded
hiding-place, I entered a barn which had appeared
to me to be empty. A woman was sleeping on some straw;
she was young, not indeed so beautiful as her whose portrait
I held, but of an agreeable aspect and blooming in the
loveliness of youth and health. Here, I thought, is one of
those whose joy-imparting smiles are bestowed on all but
me. And then I bent over her and whispered, ‘Awake, fairest,
thy lover is near—he who would give his life but to obtain
one look of affection from thine eyes; my beloved, awake!’
‘The sleeper stirred; a thrill of terror ran through me.
Should she indeed awake, and see me, and curse me, and
denounce the murderer? Thus would she assuredly act if her
darkened eyes opened and she beheld me. The thought was
madness; it stirred the fiend within me—not I, but she, shall
suffer; the murder I have committed because I am forever
robbed of all that she could give me, she shall atone. The
crime had its source in her; be hers the punishment! Thanks
to the lessons of Felix and the sanguinary laws of man, I had
learned now to work mischief. I bent over her and placed
the portrait securely in one of the folds of her dress. She
moved again, and I fled.
‘For some days I haunted the spot where these scenes had
taken place, sometimes wishing to see you, sometimes resolved
to quit the world and its miseries forever. At length
I wandered towards these mountains, and have ranged
through their immense recesses, consumed by a burning
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passion which you alone can gratify. We may not part until
you have promised to comply with my requisition. I am
alone and miserable; man will not associate with me; but
one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself
to me. My companion must be of the same species and
have the same defects. This being you must create.’
174 Frankenstein

Chapter 17

T

he being finished speaking and fixed his looks upon

me in the expectation of a reply. But I was bewildered,
perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to
understand the full extent of his proposition. He continued,
‘You must create a female for me with whom I can live in
the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being.
This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right
which you must not refuse to concede.’
The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me the anger
that had died away while he narrated his peaceful life
among the cottagers, and as he said this I could no longer
suppress the rage that burned within me.
‘I do refuse it,’ I replied; ‘and no torture shall ever extort
a consent from me. You may render me the most miserable
of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes.
Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness
might desolate the world. Begone! I have answered you; you
may torture me, but I will never consent.’
‘You are in the wrong,’ replied the fiend; ‘and instead of
threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious
because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated
by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces
and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity
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man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder
if you could precipitate me into one of those ice-rifts and
destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect
man when he condemns me? Let him live with me in
the interchange of kindness, and instead of injury I would
bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at
his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses are
insurmountable barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not
be the submission of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries;
if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear, and chiefly
towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear
inextinguishable hatred. Have a care; I will work at your destruction,
nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you
shall curse the hour of your birth.’
A fiendish rage animated him as he said this; his face was
wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes to
behold; but presently he calmed himself and proceeded‘I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me,
for you do not reflect that you are the cause of its excess.
If any being felt emotions of benevolence towards me, I
should return them a hundred and a hundredfold; for that
one creature’s sake I would make peace with the whole
kind! But I now indulge in dreams of bliss that cannot be
realized. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I
demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself;
the gratification is small, but it is all that I can receive, and
it shall content me. It is true, we shall be monsters, cut off
from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached
to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they
176 Frankenstein

will be harmless and free from the misery I now feel. Oh!

My creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards
you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of
some existing thing; do not deny me my request!’
I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible
consequences of my consent, but I felt that there was some
justice in his argument. His tale and the feelings he now expressed
proved him to be a creature of fine sensations, and
did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness
that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of
feeling and continued,
‘If you consent, neither you nor any other human being
shall ever see us again; I will go to the vast wilds of South
America. My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the
lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries
afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will be
of the same nature as myself and will be content with the
same fare. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun
will shine on us as on man and will ripen our food. The picture
I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must
feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power
and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, I now
see compassion in your eyes; let me seize the favourable
moment and persuade you to promise what I so ardently
desire.’
‘You propose,’ replied I, ‘to fly from the habitations of
man, to dwell in those wilds where the beasts of the field
will be your only companions. How can you, who long for
the love and sympathy of man, persevere in this exile? You
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will return and again seek their kindness, and you will meet
with their detestation; your evil passions will be renewed,
and you will then have a companion to aid you in the task
of destruction. This may not be; cease to argue the point, for
I cannot consent.’
‘How inconstant are your feelings! But a moment ago you
were moved by my representations, and why do you again
harden yourself to my complaints? I swear to you, by the
earth which I inhabit, and by you that made me, that with
the companion you bestow I will quit the neighbourhood
of man and dwell, as it may chance, in the most savage of
places. My evil passions will have fled, for I shall meet with
sympathy! My life will flow quietly away, and in my dying
moments I shall not curse my maker.’
His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated
him and sometimes felt a wish to console him, but when
I looked upon him, when I saw the filthy mass that moved
and talked, my heart sickened and my feelings were altered
to those of horror and hatred. I tried to stifle these sensations;
I thought that as I could not sympathize with him,
I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of
happiness which was yet in my power to bestow.
‘You swear,’ I said, ‘to be harmless; but have you not already
shown a degree of malice that should reasonably
make me distrust you? May not even this be a feint that will
increase your triumph by affording a wider scope for your
revenge?’

‘How is this? I must not be trifled with, and I demand an
answer. If I have no ties and no affections, hatred and vice
178 Frankenstein

must be my portion; the love of another will destroy the
cause of my crimes, and I shall become a thing of whose
existence everyone will be ignorant. My vices are the children
of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will
necessarily arise when I live in communion with an equal.
I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being and became
linked to the chain of existence and events from which I am
now excluded.’
I paused some time to reflect on all he had related and
the various arguments which he had employed. I thought of
the promise of virtues which he had displayed on the opening
of his existence and the subsequent blight of all kindly
feeling by the loathing and scorn which his protectors had
manifested towards him. His power and threats were not
omitted in my calculations; a creature who could exist in
the ice caves of the glaciers and hide himself from pursuit
among the ridges of inaccessible precipices was a being possessing
faculties it would be vain to cope with. After a long
pause of reflection I concluded that the justice due both to
him and my fellow creatures demanded of me that I should
comply with his request. Turning to him, therefore, I said,
‘I consent to your demand, on your solemn oath to quit
Europe forever, and every other place in the neighbourhood
of man, as soon as I shall deliver into your hands a female
who will accompany you in your exile.’
‘I swear,’ he cried, ‘by the sun, and by the blue sky of heaven,
and by the fire of love that burns my heart, that if you
grant my prayer, while they exist you shall never behold me
again. Depart to your home and commence your labours;
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I shall watch their progress with unutterable anxiety; and
fear not but that when you are ready I shall appear.’
Saying this, he suddenly quitted me, fearful, perhaps, of
any change in my sentiments. I saw him descend the mountain
with greater speed than the flight of an eagle, and
quickly lost among the undulations of the sea of ice.
His tale had occupied the whole day, and the sun was
upon the verge of the horizon when he departed. I knew
that I ought to hasten my descent towards the valley, as I
should soon be encompassed in darkness; but my heart was
heavy, and my steps slow. The labour of winding among the
little paths of the mountain and fixing my feet firmly as I
advanced perplexed me, occupied as I was by the emotions
which the occurrences of the day had produced. Night was
far advanced when I came to the halfway resting-place and
seated myself beside the fountain. The stars shone at intervals
as the clouds passed from over them; the dark pines
rose before me, and every here and there a broken tree lay
on the ground; it was a scene of wonderful solemnity and
stirred strange thoughts within me. I wept bitterly, and
clasping my hands in agony, I exclaimed, ‘Oh! Stars and
clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock me; if ye really
pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as

nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness.’
These were wild and miserable thoughts, but I cannot describe
to you how the eternal twinkling of the stars weighed
upon me and how I listened to every blast of wind as if it
were a dull ugly siroc on its way to consume me.
180 Frankenstein

Morning dawned before I arrived at the village of Chamounix;
I took no rest, but returned immediately to Geneva.
Even in my own heart I could give no expression to my sensations—
they weighed on me with a mountain’s weight and
their excess destroyed my agony beneath them. Thus I returned
home, and entering the house, presented myself to
the family. My haggard and wild appearance awoke intense
alarm, but I answered no question, scarcely did I speak. I felt
as if I were placed under a ban—as if I had no right to claim
their sympathies— as if never more might I enjoy companionship
with them. Yet even thus I loved them to adoration;
and to save them, I resolved to dedicate myself to my most
abhorred task. The prospect of such an occupation made
every other circumstance of existence pass before me like a
dream, and that thought only had to me the reality of life.
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Chapter 18

D

ay after day, week after week, passed away on my return

to Geneva; and I could not collect the courage to
recommence my work. I feared the vengeance of the disappointed
fiend, yet I was unable to overcome my repugnance
to the task which was enjoined me. I found that I could not
compose a female without again devoting several months
to profound study and laborious disquisition. I had heard of
some discoveries having been made by an English philosopher,
the knowledge of which was material to my success,
and I sometimes thought of obtaining my father’s consent
to visit England for this purpose; but I clung to every pretence
of delay and shrank from taking the first step in an
undertaking whose immediate necessity began to appear
less absolute to me. A change indeed had taken place in me;
my health, which had hitherto declined, was now much restored;
and my spirits, when unchecked by the memory of
my unhappy promise, rose proportionably. My father saw
this change with pleasure, and he turned his thoughts towards
the best method of eradicating the remains of my
melancholy, which every now and then would return by fits,
and with a devouring blackness overcast the approaching
sunshine. At these moments I took refuge in the most perfect
solitude. I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little
boat, watching the clouds and listening to the rippling of
182 Frankenstein

the waves, silent and listless. But the fresh air and bright
sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure,
and on my return I met the salutations of my friends
with a readier smile and a more cheerful heart.
It was after my return from one of these rambles that my
father, calling me aside, thus addressed me,

‘I am happy to remark, my dear son, that you have resumed
your former pleasures and seem to be returning to
yourself. And yet you are still unhappy and still avoid our
society. For some time I was lost in conjecture as to the
cause of this, but yesterday an idea struck me, and if it is
well founded, I conjure you to avow it. Reserve on such a
point would be not only useless, but draw down treble misery
on us all.’
I trembled violently at his exordium, and my father
continued— ‘I confess, my son, that I have always looked
forward to your marriage with our dear Elizabeth as the
tie of our domestic comfort and the stay of my declining
years. You were attached to each other from your earliest
infancy; you studied together, and appeared, in dispositions
and tastes, entirely suited to one another. But so blind
is the experience of man that what I conceived to be the
best assistants to my plan may have entirely destroyed it.
You, perhaps, regard her as your sister, without any wish
that she might become your wife. Nay, you may have met
with another whom you may love; and considering yourself
as bound in honour to Elizabeth, this struggle may occasion
the poignant misery which you appear to feel.’
‘My dear father, reassure yourself. I love my cousin tenFree
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derly and sincerely. I never saw any woman who excited, as
Elizabeth does, my warmest admiration and affection. My
future hopes and prospects are entirely bound up in the expectation
of our union.’
‘The expression of your sentiments of this subject, my
dear Victor, gives me more pleasure than I have for some
time experienced. If you feel thus, we shall assuredly be
happy, however present events may cast a gloom over us.
But it is this gloom which appears to have taken so strong
a hold of your mind that I wish to dissipate. Tell me, therefore,
whether you object to an immediate solemnization of
the marriage. We have been unfortunate, and recent events
have drawn us from that everyday tranquillity befitting my
years and infirmities. You are younger; yet l do not suppose,
possessed as you are of a competent fortune, that an early
marriage would at all interfere with any future plans of honour
and utility that you may have formed. Do not suppose,
however, that I wish to dictate happiness to you or that a
delay on your part would cause me any serious uneasiness.
Interpret my words with candour and answer me, I conjure
you, with confidence and sincerity.’
I listened to my father in silence and remained for some
time incapable of offering any reply. I revolved rapidly
in my mind a multitude of thoughts and endeavoured to
arrive at some conclusion. Alas! To me the idea of an immediate
union with my Elizabeth was one of horror and
dismay. I was bound by a solemn promise which I had not
yet fulfilled and dared not break, or if I did, what manifold
miseries might not impend over me and my devoted fam184
Frankenstein

ily! Could I enter into a festival with this deadly weight yet
hanging round my neck and bowing me to the ground? I

must perform my engagement and let the monster depart
with his mate before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of
a union from which I expected peace.
I remembered also the necessity imposed upon me of
either journeying to England or entering into a long correspondence
with those philosophers of that country whose
knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable use to me
in my present undertaking. The latter method of obtaining
the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory;
besides, I had an insurmountable aversion to the idea of engaging
myself in my loathsome task in my father’s house
while in habits of familiar intercourse with those I loved.
I knew that a thousand fearful accidents might occur, the
slightest of which would disclose a tale to thrill all connected
with me with horror. I was aware also that I should often
lose all self-command, all capacity of hiding the harrowing
sensations that would possess me during the progress of my
unearthly occupation. I must absent myself from all I loved
while thus employed. Once commenced, it would quickly
be achieved, and I might be restored to my family in peace
and happiness. My promise fulfilled, the monster would depart
forever. Or (so my fond fancy imaged) some accident
might meanwhile occur to destroy him and put an end to
my slavery forever.
These feelings dictated my answer to my father. I expressed
a wish to visit England, but concealing the true
reasons of this request, I clothed my desires under a guise
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which excited no suspicion, while I urged my desire with
an earnestness that easily induced my father to comply.
After so long a period of an absorbing melancholy that resembled
madness in its intensity and effects, he was glad
to find that I was capable of taking pleasure in the idea of
such a journey, and he hoped that change of scene and varied
amusement would, before my return, have restored me
entirely to myself.
The duration of my absence was left to my own choice; a
few months, or at most a year, was the period contemplated.
One paternal kind precaution he had taken to ensure
my having a companion. Without previously communicating
with me, he had, in concert with Elizabeth, arranged
that Clerval should join me at Strasbourg. This interfered
with the solitude I coveted for the prosecution of my task;
yet at the commencement of my journey the presence of
my friend could in no way be an impediment, and truly I
rejoiced that thus I should be saved many hours of lonely,
maddening reflection. Nay, Henry might stand between me
and the intrusion of my foe. If I were alone, would he not
at times force his abhorred presence on me to remind me of
my task or to contemplate its progress?
To England, therefore, I was bound, and it was understood
that my union with Elizabeth should take place
immediately on my return. My father’s age rendered him
extremely averse to delay. For myself, there was one reward
I promised myself from my detested toils— one consolation
for my unparalleled sufferings; it was the prospect of that

day when, enfranchised from my miserable slavery, I might
186 Frankenstein

claim Elizabeth and forget the past in my union with her.
I now made arrangements for my journey, but one feeling
haunted me which filled me with fear and agitation.
During my absence I should leave my friends unconscious
of the existence of their enemy and unprotected from his attacks,
exasperated as he might be by my departure. But he
had promised to follow me wherever I might go, and would
he not accompany me to England? This imagination was
dreadful in itself, but soothing inasmuch as it supposed the
safety of my friends. I was agonized with the idea of the possibility
that the reverse of this might happen. But through
the whole period during which I was the slave of my creature
I allowed myself to be governed by the impulses of the
moment; and my present sensations strongly intimated that
the fiend would follow me and exempt my family from the
danger of his machinations.
It was in the latter end of September that I again quitted
my native country. My journey had been my own suggestion,
and Elizabeth therefore acquiesced, but she was filled
with disquiet at the idea of my suffering, away from her, the
inroads of misery and grief. It had been her care which provided
me a companion in Clerval—and yet a man is blind to
a thousand minute circumstances which call forth a woman’s
sedulous attention. She longed to bid me hasten my
return; a thousand conflicting emotions rendered her mute
as she bade me a tearful, silent farewell.
I threw myself into the carriage that was to convey me
away, hardly knowing whither I was going, and careless of
what was passing around. I remembered only, and it was
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with a bitter anguish that I reflected on it, to order that
my chemical instruments should be packed to go with me.
Filled with dreary imaginations, I passed through many
beautiful and majestic scenes, but my eyes were fixed and
unobserving. I could only think of the bourne of my travels
and the work which was to occupy me whilst they endured.
After some days spent in listless indolence, during which
I traversed many leagues, I arrived at Strasbourg, where I
waited two days for Clerval. He came. Alas, how great was
the contrast between us! He was alive to every new scene,
joyful when he saw the beauties of the setting sun, and more
happy when he beheld it rise and recommence a new day.
He pointed out to me the shifting colours of the landscape
and the appearances of the sky. ‘This is what it is to live,’
he cried; ‘how I enjoy existence! But you, my dear Frankenstein,
wherefore are you desponding and sorrowful!’ In
truth, I was occupied by gloomy thoughts and neither saw
the descent of the evening star nor the golden sunrise reflected
in the Rhine. And you, my friend, would be far more
amused with the journal of Clerval, who observed the scenery
with an eye of feeling and delight, than in listening to
my reflections. I, a miserable wretch, haunted by a curse
that shut up every avenue to enjoyment.
We had agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from

Strasbourg to Rotterdam, whence we might take shipping
for London. During this voyage we passed many willowy
islands and saw several beautiful towns. We stayed a day at
Mannheim, and on the fifth from our departure from Strasbourg,
arrived at Mainz. The course of the Rhine below
188 Frankenstein

Mainz becomes much more picturesque. The river descends
rapidly and winds between hills, not high, but steep, and of
beautiful forms. We saw many ruined castles standing on
the edges of precipices, surrounded by black woods, high
and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine, indeed, presents a
singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view rugged
hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices,
with the dark Rhine rushing beneath; and on the sudden
turn of a promontory, flourishing vineyards with green
sloping banks and a meandering river and populous towns
occupy the scene.
We travelled at the time of the vintage and heard the
song of the labourers as we glided down the stream. Even
I, depressed in mind, and my spirits continually agitated by
gloomy feelings, even I was pleased. I lay at the bottom of
the boat, and as I gazed on the cloudless blue sky, I seemed
to drink in a tranquillity to which I had long been a stranger.
And if these were my sensations, who can describe those
of Henry? He felt as if he had been transported to fairy-land
and enjoyed a happiness seldom tasted by man. ‘I have seen,’
he said, ‘the most beautiful scenes of my own country; I
have visited the lakes of Lucerne and Uri, where the snowy
mountains descend almost perpendicularly to the water,
casting black and impenetrable shades, which would cause
a gloomy and mournful appearance were it not for the most
verdant islands that relieve the eye by their gay appearance;
I have seen this lake agitated by a tempest, when the wind
tore up whirlwinds of water and gave you an idea of what the
water-spout must be on the great ocean; and the waves dash
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with fury the base of the mountain, where the priest and
his mistress were overwhelmed by an avalanche and where
their dying voices are still said to be heard amid the pauses
of the nightly wind; I have seen the mountains of La Valais,
and the Pays de Vaud; but this country, Victor, pleases me
more than all those wonders. The mountains of Switzerland
are more majestic and strange, but there is a charm in the
banks of this divine river that I never before saw equalled.
Look at that castle which overhangs yon precipice; and that
also on the island, almost concealed amongst the foliage of
those lovely trees; and now that group of labourers coming
from among their vines; and that village half hid in the recess
of the mountain. Oh, surely the spirit that inhabits and
guards this place has a soul more in harmony with man
than those who pile the glacier or retire to the inaccessible
peaks of the mountains of our own country.’ Clerval! Beloved
friend! Even now it delights me to record your words
and to dwell on the praise of which you are so eminently
deserving. He was a being formed in the ‘very poetry of nature.’
His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened

by the sensibility of his heart. His soul overflowed with ardent
affections, and his friendship was of that devoted and
wondrous nature that the world-minded teach us to look
for only in the imagination. But even human sympathies
were not sufficient to satisfy his eager mind. The scenery of
external nature, which others regard only with admiration,
he loved with ardour:—
——-The sounding cataract
190 Frankenstein

Haunted him like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to him
An appetite; a feeling, and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, or any interest
Unborrow’d from the eye.*
[*Wordsworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey”.]
And where does he now exist? Is this gentle and lovely
being lost forever? Has this mind, so replete with ideas,
imaginations fanciful and magnificent, which formed a
world, whose existence depended on the life of its creator;
— has this mind perished? Does it now only exist in my
memory? No, it is not thus; your form so divinely wrought,
and beaming with beauty, has decayed, but your spirit still
visits and consoles your unhappy friend.
Pardon this gush of sorrow; these ineffectual words are
but a slight tribute to the unexampled worth of Henry, but
they soothe my heart, overflowing with the anguish which
his remembrance creates. I will proceed with my tale.
Beyond Cologne we descended to the plains of Holland;
and we resolved to post the remainder of our way, for the
wind was contrary and the stream of the river was too gentle
to aid us. Our journey here lost the interest arising from
beautiful scenery, but we arrived in a few days at Rotterdam,
whence we proceeded by sea to England. It was on a
clear morning, in the latter days of December, that I first
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saw the white cliffs of Britain. The banks of the Thames presented
a new scene; they were flat but fertile, and almost
every town was marked by the remembrance of some story.
We saw Tilbury Fort and remembered the Spanish Armada,
Gravesend, Woolwich, and Greenwich— places which I had
heard of even in my country.
At length we saw the numerous steeples of London, St.
Paul’s towering above all, and the Tower famed in English
history.
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Chapter 19

L

ondon was our present point of rest; we determined to

remain several months in this wonderful and celebrated
city. Clerval desired the intercourse of the men of genius
and talent who flourished at this time, but this was with
me a secondary object; I was principally occupied with
the means of obtaining the information necessary for the

completion of my promise and quickly availed myself of
the letters of introduction that I had brought with me, addressed
to the most distinguished natural philosophers.
If this journey had taken place during my days of study
and happiness, it would have afforded me inexpressible
pleasure. But a blight had come over my existence, and I
only visited these people for the sake of the information
they might give me on the subject in which my interest was
so terribly profound. Company was irksome to me; when
alone, I could fill my mind with the sights of heaven and
earth; the voice of Henry soothed me, and I could thus
cheat myself into a transitory peace. But busy, uninteresting,
joyous faces brought back despair to my heart. I saw an
insurmountable barrier placed between me and my fellow
men; this barrier was sealed with the blood of William and
Justine, and to reflect on the events connected with those
names filled my soul with anguish.
But in Clerval I saw the image of my former self; he was
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inquisitive and anxious to gain experience and instruction.
The difference of manners which he observed was to him an
inexhaustible source of instruction and amusement. He was
also pursuing an object he had long had in view. His design
was to visit India, in the belief that he had in his knowledge
of its various languages, and in the views he had taken of
its society, the means of materially assisting the progress of
European colonization and trade. In Britain only could he
further the execution of his plan. He was forever busy, and
the only check to his enjoyments was my sorrowful and dejected
mind. I tried to conceal this as much as possible, that
I might not debar him from the pleasures natural to one
who was entering on a new scene of life, undisturbed by
any care or bitter recollection. I often refused to accompany
him, alleging another engagement, that I might remain
alone. I now also began to collect the materials necessary
for my new creation, and this was to me like the torture of
single drops of water continually falling on the head. Every
thought that was devoted to it was an extreme anguish, and
every word that I spoke in allusion to it caused my lips to
quiver, and my heart to palpitate.
After passing some months in London, we received a letter
from a person in Scotland who had formerly been our
visitor at Geneva. He mentioned the beauties of his native
country and asked us if those were not sufficient allurements
to induce us to prolong our journey as far north as
Perth, where he resided. Clerval eagerly desired to accept
this invitation, and I, although I abhorred society, wished
to view again mountains and streams and all the wondrous
194 Frankenstein

works with which Nature adorns her chosen dwelling-places.
We had arrived in England at the beginning of October,
and it was now February. We accordingly determined to
commence our journey towards the north at the expiration
of another month. In this expedition we did not intend to
follow the great road to Edinburgh, but to visit Windsor,
Oxford, Matlock, and the Cumberland lakes, resolving to

arrive at the completion of this tour about the end of July.
I packed up my chemical instruments and the materials I
had collected, resolving to finish my labours in some obscure
nook in the northern highlands of Scotland.
We quitted London on the 27th of March and remained
a few days at Windsor, rambling in its beautiful forest. This
was a new scene to us mountaineers; the majestic oaks, the
quantity of game, and the herds of stately deer were all novelties
to us.
From thence we proceeded to Oxford. As we entered
this city our minds were filled with the remembrance of the
events that had been transacted there more than a century
and a half before. It was here that Charles I had collected
his forces. This city had remained faithful to him, after the
whole nation had forsaken his cause to join the standard
of Parliament and liberty. The memory of that unfortunate
king and his companions, the amiable Falkland, the
insolent Goring, his queen, and son, gave a peculiar interest
to every part of the city which they might be supposed
to have inhabited. The spirit of elder days found a dwelling
here, and we delighted to trace its footsteps. If these feelings
had not found an imaginary gratification, the appearance
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of the city had yet in itself sufficient beauty to obtain our
admiration. The colleges are ancient and picturesque; the
streets are almost magnificent; and the lovely Isis, which
flows beside it through meadows of exquisite verdure, is
spread forth into a placid expanse of waters, which reflects
its majestic assemblage of towers, and spires, and domes,
embosomed among aged trees.
I enjoyed this scene, and yet my enjoyment was embittered
both by the memory of the past and the anticipation
of the future. I was formed for peaceful happiness. During
my youthful days discontent never visited my mind, and if
I was ever overcome by ennui, the sight of what is beautiful
in nature or the study of what is excellent and sublime
in the productions of man could always interest my heart
and communicate elasticity to my spirits. But I am a blasted
tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I
should survive to exhibit what I shall soon cease to be—a
miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others
and intolerable to myself.
We passed a considerable period at Oxford, rambling
among its environs and endeavouring to identify every spot
which might relate to the most animating epoch of English
history. Our little voyages of discovery were often prolonged
by the successive objects that presented themselves. We visited
the tomb of the illustrious Hampden and the field on
which that patriot fell. For a moment my soul was elevated
from its debasing and miserable fears to contemplate the divine
ideas of liberty and self sacrifice of which these sights
were the monuments and the remembrancers. For an in196
Frankenstein

stant I dared to shake off my chains and look around me
with a free and lofty spirit, but the iron had eaten into my
flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my

miserable self.
We left Oxford with regret and proceeded to Matlock,
which was our next place of rest. The country in the neighbourhood
of this village resembled, to a greater degree, the
scenery of Switzerland; but everything is on a lower scale,
and the green hills want the crown of distant white Alps
which always attend on the piny mountains of my native
country. We visited the wondrous cave and the little cabinets
of natural history, where the curiosities are disposed in
the same manner as in the collections at Servox and Chamounix.
The latter name made me tremble when pronounced
by Henry, and I hastened to quit Matlock, with which that
terrible scene was thus associated.
From Derby, still journeying northwards, we passed two
months in Cumberland and Westmorland. I could now almost
fancy myself among the Swiss mountains. The little
patches of snow which yet lingered on the northern sides
of the mountains, the lakes, and the dashing of the rocky
streams were all familiar and dear sights to me. Here also
we made some acquaintances, who almost contrived to
cheat me into happiness. The delight of Clerval was proportionably
greater than mine; his mind expanded in the
company of men of talent, and he found in his own nature
greater capacities and resources than he could have imagined
himself to have possessed while he associated with
his inferiors. ‘I could pass my life here,’ said he to me; ‘and
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among these mountains I should scarcely regret Switzerland
and the Rhine.’
But he found that a traveller’s life is one that includes
much pain amidst its enjoyments. His feelings are forever
on the stretch; and when he begins to sink into repose, he
finds himself obliged to quit that on which he rests in pleasure
for something new, which again engages his attention,
and which also he forsakes for other novelties.
We had scarcely visited the various lakes of Cumberland
and Westmorland and conceived an affection for some of
the inhabitants when the period of our appointment with
our Scotch friend approached, and we left them to travel
on. For my own part I was not sorry. I had now neglected
my promise for some time, and I feared the effects of the
daemon’s disappointment. He might remain in Switzerland
and wreak his vengeance on my relatives. This idea pursued
me and tormented me at every moment from which I
might otherwise have snatched repose and peace. I waited
for my letters with feverish impatience; if they were delayed
I was miserable and overcome by a thousand fears;
and when they arrived and I saw the superscription of Elizabeth
or my father, I hardly dared to read and ascertain my
fate. Sometimes I thought that the fiend followed me and
might expedite my remissness by murdering my companion.
When these thoughts possessed me, I would not quit
Henry for a moment, but followed him as his shadow, to
protect him from the fancied rage of his destroyer. I felt as
if I had committed some great crime, the consciousness of
which haunted me. I was guiltless, but I had indeed drawn

198 Frankenstein

down a horrible curse upon my head, as mortal as that of
crime.
I visited Edinburgh with languid eyes and mind; and yet
that city might have interested the most unfortunate being.
Clerval did not like it so well as Oxford, for the antiquity
of the latter city was more pleasing to him. But the beauty
and regularity of the new town of Edinburgh, its romantic
castle and its environs, the most delightful in the world,
Arthur’s Seat, St. Bernard’s Well, and the Pentland Hills
compensated him for the change and filled him with cheerfulness
and admiration. But I was impatient to arrive at the
termination of my journey.
We left Edinburgh in a week, passing through Coupar, St.
Andrew’s, and along the banks of the Tay, to Perth, where
our friend expected us. But I was in no mood to laugh and
talk with strangers or enter into their feelings or plans with
the good humour expected from a guest; and accordingly
I told Clerval that I wished to make the tour of Scotland
alone. ‘Do you,’ said I, ‘enjoy yourself, and let this be our
rendezvous. I may be absent a month or two; but do not
interfere with my motions, I entreat you; leave me to peace
and solitude for a short time; and when I return, I hope it
will be with a lighter heart, more congenial to your own
temper.
Henry wished to dissuade me, but seeing me bent on this
plan, ceased to remonstrate. He entreated me to write often.
‘I had rather be with you,’ he said, ‘in your solitary rambles,
than with these Scotch people, whom I do not know; hasten,
then, my dear friend, to return, that I may again feel myself
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somewhat at home, which I cannot do in your absence.’
Having parted from my friend, I determined to visit
some remote spot of Scotland and finish my work in solitude.
I did not doubt but that the monster followed me and
would discover himself to me when I should have finished,
that he might receive his companion. With this resolution
I traversed the northern highlands and fixed on one of the
remotest of the Orkneys as the scene of my labours. It was
a place fitted for such a work, being hardly more than a
rock whose high sides were continually beaten upon by the
waves. The soil was barren, scarcely affording pasture for a
few miserable cows, and oatmeal for its inhabitants, which
consisted of five persons, whose gaunt and scraggy limbs
gave tokens of their miserable fare. Vegetables and bread,
when they indulged in such luxuries, and even fresh water,
was to be procured from the mainland, which was about
five miles distant.
On the whole island there were but three miserable huts,
and one of these was vacant when I arrived. This I hired. It
contained but two rooms, and these exhibited all the squalidness
of the most miserable penury. The thatch had fallen
in, the walls were unplastered, and the door was off its hinges.
I ordered it to be repaired, bought some furniture, and
took possession, an incident which would doubtless have
occasioned some surprise had not all the senses of the cottagers

been benumbed by want and squalid poverty. As it
was, I lived ungazed at and unmolested, hardly thanked for
the pittance of food and clothes which I gave, so much does
suffering blunt even the coarsest sensations of men.
200 Frankenstein

In this retreat I devoted the morning to labour; but in the
evening, when the weather permitted, I walked on the stony
beach of the sea to listen to the waves as they roared and
dashed at my feet. It was a monotonous yet ever-changing
scene. I thought of Switzerland; it was far different from this
desolate and appalling landscape. Its hills are covered with
vines, and its cottages are scattered thickly in the plains. Its
fair lakes reflect a blue and gentle sky, and when troubled by
the winds, their tumult is but as the play of a lively infant
when compared to the roarings of the giant ocean.
In this manner I distributed my occupations when I first
arrived, but as I proceeded in my labour, it became every
day more horrible and irksome to me. Sometimes I could
not prevail on myself to enter my laboratory for several days,
and at other times I toiled day and night in order to complete
my work. It was, indeed, a filthy process in which I was
engaged. During my first experiment, a kind of enthusiastic
frenzy had blinded me to the horror of my employment; my
mind was intently fixed on the consummation of my labour,
and my eyes were shut to the horror of my proceedings. But
now I went to it in cold blood, and my heart often sickened
at the work of my hands.
Thus situated, employed in the most detestable occupation,
immersed in a solitude where nothing could for an
instant call my attention from the actual scene in which
I was engaged, my spirits became unequal; I grew restless
and nervous. Every moment I feared to meet my persecutor.
Sometimes I sat with my eyes fixed on the ground, fearing
to raise them lest they should encounter the object which
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I so much dreaded to behold. I feared to wander from the
sight of my fellow creatures lest when alone he should come
to claim his companion.
In the mean time I worked on, and my labour was
already considerably advanced. I looked towards its completion
with a tremulous and eager hope, which I dared not
trust myself to question but which was intermixed with obscure
forebodings of evil that made my heart sicken in my
bosom.
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Chapter 20

I

sat one evening in my laboratory; the sun had set, and

the moon was just rising from the sea; I had not sufficient
light for my employment, and I remained idle, in a pause of
consideration of whether I should leave my labour for the
night or hasten its conclusion by an unremitting attention
to it. As I sat, a train of reflection occurred to me which led
me to consider the effects of what I was now doing. Three
years before, I was engaged in the same manner and had

created a fiend whose unparalleled barbarity had desolated
my heart and filled it forever with the bitterest remorse. I
was now about to form another being of whose dispositions
I was alike ignorant; she might become ten thousand times
more malignant than her mate and delight, for its own
sake, in murder and wretchedness. He had sworn to quit
the neighbourhood of man and hide himself in deserts, but
she had not; and she, who in all probability was to become
a thinking and reasoning animal, might refuse to comply
with a compact made before her creation. They might even
hate each other; the creature who already lived loathed his
own deformity, and might he not conceive a greater abhorrence
for it when it came before his eyes in the female form?
She also might turn with disgust from him to the superior
beauty of man; she might quit him, and he be again alone,
exasperated by the fresh provocation of being deserted by
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one of his own species.
Even if they were to leave Europe and inhabit the deserts
of the new world, yet one of the first results of those sympathies
for which the daemon thirsted would be children, and
a race of devils would be propagated upon the earth who
might make the very existence of the species of man a condition
precarious and full of terror. Had I right, for my own
benefit, to inflict this curse upon everlasting generations? I
had before been moved by the sophisms of the being I had
created; I had been struck senseless by his fiendish threats;
but now, for the first time, the wickedness of my promise
burst upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might
curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated
to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence
of the whole human race.
I trembled and my heart failed within me, when, on
looking up, I saw by the light of the moon the daemon at
the casement. A ghastly grin wrinkled his lips as he gazed
on me, where I sat fulfilling the task which he had allotted
to me. Yes, he had followed me in my travels; he had loitered
in forests, hid himself in caves, or taken refuge in wide and
desert heaths; and he now came to mark my progress and
claim the fulfillment of my promise.
As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the
utmost extent of malice and treachery. I thought with a sensation
of madness on my promise of creating another like to
him, and trembling with passion, tore to pieces the thing on
which I was engaged. The wretch saw me destroy the creature
on whose future existence he depended for happiness,
204 Frankenstein

and with a howl of devilish despair and revenge, withdrew.
I left the room, and locking the door, made a solemn vow
in my own heart never to resume my labours; and then, with
trembling steps, I sought my own apartment. I was alone;
none were near me to dissipate the gloom and relieve me
from the sickening oppression of the most terrible reveries.
Several hours passed, and I remained near my window
gazing on the sea; it was almost motionless, for the winds
were hushed, and all nature reposed under the eye of the

quiet moon. A few fishing vessels alone specked the water,
and now and then the gentle breeze wafted the sound
of voices as the fishermen called to one another. I felt the
silence, although I was hardly conscious of its extreme
profundity, until my ear was suddenly arrested by the paddling
of oars near the shore, and a person landed close to
my house.
In a few minutes after, I heard the creaking of my door,
as if some one endeavoured to open it softly. I trembled
from head to foot; I felt a presentiment of who it was and
wished to rouse one of the peasants who dwelt in a cottage
not far from mine; but I was overcome by the sensation of
helplessness, so often felt in frightful dreams, when you in
vain endeavour to fly from an impending danger, and was
rooted to the spot.
Presently I heard the sound of footsteps along the passage;
the door opened, and the wretch whom I dreaded
appeared. Shutting the door, he approached me and said in
a smothered voice, ‘You have destroyed the work which you
began; what is it that you intend? Do you dare to break your
Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 205

promise? I have endured toil and misery; I left Switzerland
with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among its
willow islands and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt
many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts
of Scotland. I have endured incalculable fatigue, and
cold, and hunger; do you dare destroy my hopes?’
‘Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another
like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness.’
‘Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved
yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I
have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make
you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you.
You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!’
‘The hour of my irresolution is past, and the period of
your power is arrived. Your threats cannot move me to do
an act of wickedness; but they confirm me in a determination
of not creating you a companion in vice. Shall I, in cool
blood, set loose upon the earth a daemon whose delight is
in death and wretchedness? Begone! I am firm, and your
words will only exasperate my rage.’
The monster saw my determination in my face and
gnashed his teeth in the impotence of anger. ‘Shall each
man,’ cried he, ‘find a wife for his bosom, and each beast
have his mate, and I be alone? I had feelings of affection,
and they were requited by detestation and scorn. Man! You
may hate, but beware! Your hours will pass in dread and
misery, and soon the bolt will fall which must ravish from
you your happiness forever. Are you to be happy while I
grovel in the intensity of my wretchedness? You can blast
206 Frankenstein

my other passions, but revenge remains—revenge, henceforth
dearer than light or food! I may die, but first you, my
tyrant and tormentor, shall curse the sun that gazes on your
misery. Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful. I
will watch with the wiliness of a snake, that I may sting with

its venom. Man, you shall repent of the injuries you inflict.’
‘Devil, cease; and do not poison the air with these sounds
of malice. I have declared my resolution to you, and I am no
coward to bend beneath words. Leave me; I am inexorable.’
‘It is well. I go; but remember, I shall be with you on your
wedding-night.’
I started forward and exclaimed, ‘Villain! Before you
sign my death-warrant, be sure that you are yourself safe.’
I would have seized him, but he eluded me and quitted
the house with precipitation. In a few moments I saw him in
his boat, which shot across the waters with an arrowy swiftness
and was soon lost amidst the waves.
All was again silent, but his words rang in my ears. I
burned with rage to pursue the murderer of my peace and
precipitate him into the ocean. I walked up and down my
room hastily and perturbed, while my imagination conjured
up a thousand images to torment and sting me. Why
had I not followed him and closed with him in mortal
strife? But I had suffered him to depart, and he had directed
his course towards the mainland. I shuddered to think who
might be the next victim sacrificed to his insatiate revenge.
And then I thought again of his words—‘*I will be with you
on your wedding-night*.’ That, then, was the period fixed
for the fulfillment of my destiny. In that hour I should die
Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 207

and at once satisfy and extinguish his malice. The prospect
did not move me to fear; yet when I thought of my beloved
Elizabeth, of her tears and endless sorrow, when she should
find her lover so barbarously snatched from her, tears, the
first I had shed for many months, streamed from my eyes,
and I resolved not to fall before my enemy without a bitter
struggle.
The night passed away, and the sun rose from the ocean;
my feelings became calmer, if it may be called calmness
when the violence of rage sinks into the depths of despair.
I left the house, the horrid scene of the last night’s contention,
and walked on the beach of the sea, which I almost
regarded as an insuperable barrier between me and my fellow
creatures; nay, a wish that such should prove the fact
stole across me. I desired that I might pass my life on that
barren rock, wearily, it is true, but uninterrupted by any
sudden shock of misery. If I returned, it was to be sacrificed
or to see those whom I most loved die under the grasp of a
daemon whom I had myself created.
I walked about the isle like a restless spectre, separated
from all it loved and miserable in the separation. When it became
noon, and the sun rose higher, I lay down on the grass
and was overpowered by a deep sleep. I had been awake the
whole of the preceding night, my nerves were agitated, and
my eyes inflamed by watching and misery. The sleep into
which I now sank refreshed me; and when I awoke, I again
felt as if I belonged to a race of human beings like myself,
and I began to reflect upon what had passed with greater
composure; yet still the words of the fiend rang in my ears
208 Frankenstein

like a death-knell; they appeared like a dream, yet distinct

and oppressive as a reality.
The sun had far descended, and I still sat on the shore,
satisfying my appetite, which had become ravenous, with
an oaten cake, when I saw a fishing-boat land close to me,
and one of the men brought me a packet; it contained letters
from Geneva, and one from Clerval entreating me to join
him. He said that he was wearing away his time fruitlessly
where he was, that letters from the friends he had formed in
London desired his return to complete the negotiation they
had entered into for his Indian enterprise. He could not any
longer delay his departure; but as his journey to London
might be followed, even sooner than he now conjectured, by
his longer voyage, he entreated me to bestow as much of my
society on him as I could spare. He besought me, therefore,
to leave my solitary isle and to meet him at Perth, that we
might proceed southwards together. This letter in a degree
recalled me to life, and I determined to quit my island at the
expiration of two days.
Yet, before I departed, there was a task to perform, on
which I shuddered to reflect; I must pack up my chemical
instruments, and for that purpose I must enter the room
which had been the scene of my odious work, and I must
handle those utensils the sight of which was sickening to
me. The next morning, at daybreak, I summoned sufficient
courage and unlocked the door of my laboratory. The remains
of the half-finished creature, whom I had destroyed,
lay scattered on the floor, and I almost felt as if I had mangled
the living flesh of a human being. I paused to collect
Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 209

myself and then entered the chamber. With trembling hand
I conveyed the instruments out of the room, but I reflected
that I ought not to leave the relics of my work to excite the
horror and suspicion of the peasants; and I accordingly put
them into a basket, with a great quantity of stones, and laying
them up, determined to throw them into the sea that
very night; and in the meantime I sat upon the beach, employed
in cleaning and arranging my chemical apparatus.
Nothing could be more complete than the alteration that
had taken place in my feelings since the night of the appearance
of the daemon. I had before regarded my promise
with a gloomy despair as a thing that, with whatever consequences,
must be fulfilled; but I now felt as if a film had
been taken from before my eyes and that I for the first time
saw clearly. The idea of renewing my labours did not for one
instant occur to me; the threat I had heard weighed on my
thoughts, but I did not reflect that a voluntary act of mine
could avert it. I had resolved in my own mind that to create
another like the fiend I had first made would be an act
of the basest and most atrocious selfishness, and I banished
from my mind every thought that could lead to a different
conclusion.
Between two and three in the morning the moon rose;
and I then, putting my basket aboard a little skiff, sailed
out about four miles from the shore. The scene was perfectly
solitary; a few boats were returning towards land, but
I sailed away from them. I felt as if I was about the commission

of a dreadful crime and avoided with shuddering
anxiety any encounter with my fellow creatures. At one
210 Frankenstein

time the moon, which had before been clear, was suddenly
overspread by a thick cloud, and I took advantage of the
moment of darkness and cast my basket into the sea; I listened
to the gurgling sound as it sank and then sailed away
from the spot. The sky became clouded, but the air was pure,
although chilled by the northeast breeze that was then rising.
But it refreshed me and filled me with such agreeable
sensations that I resolved to prolong my stay on the water,
and fixing the rudder in a direct position, stretched myself
at the bottom of the boat. Clouds hid the moon, everything
was obscure, and I heard only the sound of the boat as its
keel cut through the waves; the murmur lulled me, and in a
short time I slept soundly.
I do not know how long I remained in this situation, but
when I awoke I found that the sun had already mounted
considerably. The wind was high, and the waves continually
threatened the safety of my little skiff. I found that the wind
was northeast and must have driven me far from the coast
from which I had embarked. I endeavoured to change my
course but quickly found that if I again made the attempt
the boat would be instantly filled with water. Thus situated,
my only resource was to drive before the wind. I confess
that I felt a few sensations of terror. I had no compass with
me and was so slenderly acquainted with the geography of
this part of the world that the sun was of little benefit to
me. I might be driven into the wide Atlantic and feel all
the tortures of starvation or be swallowed up in the immeasurable
waters that roared and buffeted around me. I had
already been out many hours and felt the torment of a burnFree
eBooks at Planet eBook.com 211

ing thirst, a prelude to my other sufferings. I looked on the
heavens, which were covered by clouds that flew before the
wind, only to be replaced by others; I looked upon the sea;
it was to be my grave. ‘Fiend,’ I exclaimed, ‘your task is already
fulfilled!’ I thought of Elizabeth, of my father, and of
Clerval—all left behind, on whom the monster might satisfy
his sanguinary and merciless passions. This idea plunged
me into a reverie so despairing and frightful that even now,
when the scene is on the point of closing before me forever,
I shudder to reflect on it.
Some hours passed thus; but by degrees, as the sun
declined towards the horizon, the wind died away into a
gentle breeze and the sea became free from breakers. But
these gave place to a heavy swell; I felt sick and hardly able
to hold the rudder, when suddenly I saw a line of high land
towards the south.
Almost spent, as I was, by fatigue and the dreadful suspense
I endured for several hours, this sudden certainty of
life rushed like a flood of warm joy to my heart, and tears
gushed from my eyes.
How mutable are our feelings, and how strange is that
clinging love we have of life even in the excess of misery! I
constructed another sail with a part of my dress and eagerly

steered my course towards the land. It had a wild and rocky
appearance, but as I approached nearer I easily perceived
the traces of cultivation. I saw vessels near the shore and
found myself suddenly transported back to the neighbourhood
of civilized man. I carefully traced the windings of
the land and hailed a steeple which I at length saw issuing
212 Frankenstein

from behind a small promontory. As I was in a state of extreme
debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town,
as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.
Fortunately I had money with me. As I turned the promontory
I perceived a small neat town and a good harbour,
which I entered, my heart bounding with joy at my unexpected
escape.
As I was occupied in fixing the boat and arranging the
sails, several people crowded towards the spot. They seemed
much surprised at my appearance, but instead of offering
me any assistance, whispered together with gestures that at
any other time might have produced in me a slight sensation
of alarm. As it was, I merely remarked that they spoke
English, and I therefore addressed them in that language.
‘My good friends,’ said I, ‘will you be so kind as to tell me
the name of this town and inform me where I am?’
‘You will know that soon enough,’ replied a man with a
hoarse voice. ‘Maybe you are come to a place that will not
prove much to your taste, but you will not be consulted as
to your quarters, I promise you.’
I was exceedingly surprised on receiving so rude an
answer from a stranger, and I was also disconcerted on
perceiving the frowning and angry countenances of his
companions. ‘Why do you answer me so roughly?’ I replied.
‘Surely it is not the custom of Englishmen to receive strangers
so inhospitably.’
‘I do not know,’ said the man, ‘what the custom of the
English may be, but it is the custom of the Irish to hate villains.’
Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 213

While this strange dialogue continued, I perceived the
crowd rapidly increase. Their faces expressed a mixture of
curiosity and anger, which annoyed and in some degree
alarmed me. I inquired the way to the inn, but no one replied.
I then moved forward, and a murmuring sound arose
from the crowd as they followed and surrounded me, when
an ill-looking man approaching tapped me on the shoulder
and said, ‘Come, sir, you must follow me to Mr. Kirwin’s to
give an account of yourself.’
‘Who is Mr. Kirwin? Why am I to give an account of myself?
Is not this a free country?’
‘Ay, sir, free enough for honest folks. Mr. Kirwin is a
magistrate, and you are to give an account of the death of a
gentleman who was found murdered here last night.’
This answer startled me, but I presently recovered myself.
I was innocent; that could easily be proved; accordingly I
followed my conductor in silence and was led to one of the
best houses in the town. I was ready to sink from fatigue
and hunger, but being surrounded by a crowd, I thought
it politic to rouse all my strength, that no physical debility

might be construed into apprehension or conscious
guilt. Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few
moments to overwhelm me and extinguish in horror and
despair all fear of ignominy or death.
I must pause here, for it requires all my fortitude to recall
the memory of the frightful events which I am about to relate,
in proper detail, to my recollection.
214 Frankenstein






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